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BLOG: What's the goal of Visual Studio 2010?
02/25/2009
Find out the answer according to Jason Zander, General Manager of Visual Studio.

Binding to the Most Recent Visual Studio Libraries
Rating: none
Marc Gregoire - 10/22/2008
Explore how to let your applications bind to the most recent version of the Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Libraries.

[Updated] Increment File and Product Version Number: Multiple IDE
Rating:
Jordan Walters - 10/21/2008
Learn about an add-in to automatically increment the FileVersion and ProductVersion fields in your application's files.

Framework Source Code Stepping
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 09/08/2008
Despite the best documentation, stepping into the actual source code of third-party libraries can be the fastest way to diagnose a difficult bug or determine the state that a component needs to be in before a certain operation can be completed. With a little set-up magic, developers can step into libraries quickly and easily.

Visual C++ Thread Debugging
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 08/06/2008
Thread debugging can be one of the more difficult debugging exercises for a Visual C++ developer. The Visual Studio 2008 debugger contains a number of improvements that make thread debugging more productive, enabling code issues in multi-threaded applications to be identified and remedied faster.

Better Visual C++ Debugging
Rating:
Nick Wienholt - 07/08/2008
Effective use of the Visual C++ debugger is one of the easiest ways to increase developer productivity. Program database (PDB) files are one of the key elements in effectively debugging an application, and it is easy to set up Visual Studio to use debug symbols for binary files produced by other developers, including those at Microsoft.

Improving Visual C++ Debugging with Better Data Display
Rating:
Nick Wienholt - 06/10/2008
Code is run in a debugger for two main reasons: examining the branches of code that are being executed, and examining data values to determine why the code is behaving in a certain manner. Inspecting data values can be significantly improved by customizing the debug information. See how that can be done in the Visual C++ debugger.

[Updated] Common Add-Ins
Rating:
sp1ff - 04/29/2008
Discover a way to write add-ins such that a single binary can be hosted across multiple versions of DevStudio, Visual Studio, and Office. It uses C++ & ATL, but the principles should carry over to other languages and frameworks.

Fix Performance Problems Fast: Advanced VSTS Profiler Use
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 03/04/2008
For large and complex applications, dealing with the amount of data collected can be difficult. See how the Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) Developer Edition Profiler can do an excellent job of finding performance problems by simply pointing it at an application and allowing it to collect data.

Function Calls, Part 4 (What Exactly Is "this"?)
Rating:
kirants - 02/14/2008
Learn about a dissasembly view of function calls, and decipher the __thiscall calling convention.

Function Calls, Part 3 (Frame Pointer and Local Variables)
Rating:
kirants - 02/05/2008
Explore a dissasembly view of function calls, including organization of the stack for local variables and the concept of stack frames and frame pointers.

Improve Code Performance with the VSTS Code Profiler
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 02/05/2008
Applications with great performance are a hallmark of C++ programming, and one of the best tools for achieving great application performance is a code profiler. Take a look at the Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) profiler, and see how it can be used to find code bottlenecks and improve performance.

Tip: Switch Between Source and Header C++ Files
Rating:
atena - 01/24/2008
Switch quickly between "cpp" and "h" C++ files. Two macros are given, one for finding quickly just in the current project and another to find in the solution.

Function Calls, Part 2 (Stack and Calling Conventions)
Rating:
kirants - 01/23/2008
Read a dissasembly view of function calls, explaining organization of the stack and the behavior in the context of different calling conventions.

[Updated] Auto Increment the Version Number after Each Build in a Visual Studio Project
Rating:
krkim - 11/19/2007
This is a Version Number Build Tool for Automatic Version Numbering after each build in the Visual Studio Environment.

Visual C++ Class Designer
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 10/02/2007
The release of Visual Studio 2008 brings support for using the Visual Studio Class Designer with Visual C++ projects. Look at the differences in how the Class Designer works with C++ compared to purely managed languages, and learn about the range of functionality available to C++ developers.

Hierarchical TableAdapters 301
Rating: none
William R. Vaughn - 08/08/2007
Are you having problems setting up a TableAdapter that can be fed from stored procedures instead of base tables? Here is a road map to guide you to success.

[Updated] Compiling and Integrating Crypto++ into the Microsoft Visual C++ Environment
Rating:
Jeffrey Walton - 12/21/2006
Learn how to compile and integrate Crypto++ into the Microsoft Visual C++ environment.

Product Keys Based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
Rating:
Jeffrey Walton - 11/28/2006
Protect Software with Product Keys based on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).

Create a Visual C++ Wizard for Visual Studio 2005
Rating:
Marius Bancila - 10/30/2006
Read a tutorial for writing a Visual C++, HTML-based wizard that generates a simple Win32 console-based customized application.

Catch C/C++ Errors Early with VSTS Code Verifier
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 09/06/2006
The application verification features in VSTS Developer Edition help identify errors that are detectable only when an application is running.

[Updated] [Debugging] - Symbols
Rating:
Darka - 07/18/2006
Learn how to set up and use the Microsoft Symbol Server to help you debug applications under Windows.

Commenting Functions and Mutiple Lines in Visual Studio 2005
Rating: none
acc15 - 06/26/2006
Learn to comment a function in view of all variants of its definition. You simply comment multiple lines of C/C++ code.

Visual Studio Team System Unit Testing
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 05/05/2006
While Visual Studio Team System cannot resolve the two intrinsic C++ unit-testing problems (cultural issues related to agile programming and lack of metadata in native C++), it does deliver a polished unit-testing framework for C++.

VSTS Annotations for C++: Beyond Just Documenting Method Behavior
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 04/07/2006
Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) code annotations enable C++ developers to attach metadata to a method's parameters to explicitly define the correct usage of the method.

Quick Debugger Visualizers in Visual Studio 2005
Rating: none
Mike Gunderloy - 04/05/2006
Debugger visualizers allow you to provide a custom user interface for the display of particular classes of data when your program is in debug mode. While there are some complex use cases for this, you can actually derive considerable benefit from very simple debugger visualizers—ones that take ten minutes or less to build.

Porting Your Mobile Applications to the VS 2005 Environment
Rating:
Alex Gusev - 12/22/2005
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005: Why Be Bothered with It?

Standalone Tracer Window
Rating:
Ovidiu Cucu - 12/08/2005
Discover a tool that displays run-time debug information for MFC applications.

Introducing Visual Studio 2005 IntelliSense Code Snippets
Rating:
Patrick Gallucci - 10/20/2005
Explore the new features of IntelliSense code snippet technology in Visual Studio 2005, and you'll have a nice library of your own snippets in no time.

A Primitive Spellchecker in MS VC++ 6.0
Rating: none
tholz - 09/06/2005
Learn how to use MS VC++ as a spellchecker while programming by making excessive use of the user-defined keyword feature.

QPerformanceTimer
Rating:
Sjaak Priester - 08/16/2005
"Profile" a block of C++ code with just one include file and two variable definitions.

MFC 8: I'm Not Dead Yet
Rating:
Victor Volkman - 07/11/2005
To prove that the Microsoft Foundation Class library is not dying, Microsoft has made some changes. Explore what is new and changed in MFC 8, coming with Visual C++ 2005.

Visual C++: Protecting Against Buffer Overruns With the /GS Switch
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 07/08/2005
This final installment wraps up the coverage of what's new in the IDE with a look at Tracepoints, new project types, enhancements to the Server Explorer, and new functionality for creating C++ projects.

Visual C++ 2005 IDE Enhancements, Part 4: Beta 2 Changes
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 05/09/2005
The Visual C++ 2005 IDE team made two painful cuts in Beta 2 related to the Class Designer and IDE Click Once support. Read up on these significant changes and find out how C++/CLI programmers can still take advantage of ClickOnce to deploy their applications.

Visual C++ 2005 IDE Enhancements, Part 3: MSBuild
Rating: none
Nick Wienholt - 05/09/2005
MSBuild is one of the major new features in Visual Studio .NET 2005. Discover the motivation for MSBuild, how it works, and how Visual C++ developers can get their hands on it.

An Alternative Method for Creating a .NET C++ Custom AppWizard
Rating:
Mike Harnad - 05/06/2005
A "how to" guide for creating a custom C++ appwizard using the IDTWizard interface.

Error Lookup Tool
Rating:
Marius Bancila - 02/24/2005
An easy-to-use tool to find the description of various error codes, especially the ones returned by Platform SDK APIs, but also extendable for application-specific codes.

Visual C++ 2005 IDE Enhancements
Rating:
Nick Wienholt - 02/07/2005
Improvements to the IDE are one of the givens in any new release of Visual C++; hence, they are often overlooked. Take a closer look at some of the new features that the Visual C++ 2005 IDE delivers.

[Updated] Vertical Text Centering in an Edit Control
Rating:
John Z. Czopowik VC++ MVP - 10/27/2004
Learn about a simple class that shows you how to center text vertically in a single-line edit control.

Visual C++: Protecting Against Buffer Overruns with the /GS Switch
Rating:
Nick Wienholt - 10/06/2004
Visual C++.NET supports the automatic detection of stack-based buffer overruns through the use of the /GS compiler switch. Learn why stack-based buffer overruns are so serious, and how /GS and other Visual C++ settings can combat them.

Simplified Development Tools—The Microsoft Express Products
Rating:
Bradley Jones - 06/29/2004
Microsoft expands Visual Studio and SQL Server to the non-programmers, hobbyists, and students with simplified, low-cost to no-cost versions.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Team System—Not Just For Developers!
Rating:
Bradley Jones - 05/24/2004
Microsoft states their seriousness in the enterprise space with the announcement of Visual Studio 2005 Team Services.

LogDispatch—Debug Module
Rating: none
Gediminas Siutilas - 05/24/2004
Learn how to output your debugging data to the application that is separated from the Visual Studio IDE and the project you are currently working on.

VSStub
Rating: none
Per Nilsson - 05/03/2004
Provides a basic implementation of the Developer Studio Object Model.

Macros for C++, in C++
Rating:
Kate Gregory - 04/30/2004
Learn how to write macros for C++ in Visual Studio.

Generating Debug Bitmaps for DirectX
Rating: none
Mike Harnad - 03/02/2004
Debugging a DirectX application is not the easiest thing to do.

A Logger Makes Your Life Easier
Rating: none
Gavriloaie Andrei - 12/02/2003
Every programmer needs a way to know what is happening with his application. What would you give to know what is wrong? Use a logger!

Macros for Code Cleanup and Auto Implementing
Rating: none
Per Nilsson - 10/17/2003
Visual Studio 6 macros for auto implementing methods and cleaning up autogenerated code.

Visual Studio Add-RGB Macro Creator
Rating:
Sergey Pimanov - 09/03/2003
This add-in shows a standard ColorSelect dialog box and forms text that looks like an RGB-macro string (RGB(100, 120, 130)). (The article, addin, and source code were updated.)

Set Syntax Coloring for User-Defined Keywords
Rating: none
Zafir Anjum - 08/11/2003
This article shows you how to create syntax coloring for user-defined keywords'—for C++ files only.

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